good tuesday morning. developing right now on "early today," highly provocative. that's how the white house is describing north korea testing a nuclear weapon today. arrests are made in the chicago murder of a 15-year-old girl whose funeral was just attended by the first lady. the pope's resignation sends shock waves around the globe. plus, the manhunt for the rogue l.a. cop escalates. the president prepares for tonight's state of the union. and fat tuesday in new orleans is already off to a good start. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for tuesday, february 12th, 2013. good morning.

i'm mara schiavocampo. we begin with what the white house is calling a, quote, highly provocative act by north korea. the country to find world powers in conducting a third nuclear test overnight. it happened in the northeastern part of the country on a street google maps identifies as nuclear test road, seriously. pyongyang reported an explosion three hours after activity was detected in neighboring south korea. they described it as a miniature size missile. small enough to be mounted on a missile that could reach the u.s. it's the country's third test since 2006 and the first under leader king jong-un. president obama went on to say move hurts stability in the region but promises to pursue firm action. the u.s. security council has scheduled an emergency meeting for later this morning. and china has shown opposition to the test. fugitive chris dorner is on today from the police dragnet in los angeles. the former lapd cop has been officially charged with killing

michael crane in riverside last thursday. dorner is also suspected in two other revenge shooting deaths. meanwhile, large wanted billboards featuring dorner's picture are now up in southern california. there's a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture. meanwhile, in chicago a manhunt has ended and two men have been charged in the shooting death of 15-year-old hadiya pendleton 18-year-old michael ward and and 20-year-old kenneth williams face charges of murder and attempted murder with battery. they say they opened fire on hadiya last month. officials say it was a tragic case of mistaken identity. >> michael ward has confessed and indicated that hadiya was not the intended target. in fact, the offenders had it all wrong. they thought the group they shot into included members of a rival

gang. >> first lady michelle obama attended the teen's funeral on saturday. hadiya pendleton's parents will be among the first lady's special guests at the state of the union address. president obama is expected to detail his plans for reducing gun violence. nbc's tracie potts is live from washington with more. tracie, what else can we expect to hear from the president tonight? >> reporter: well, that, mara, plus immigration, another big issue where the president hopes to have some influence outside the beltway to press lawmakers to get something done. another question, the big issue is money, $85 billion in cuts what we've been calling here in washington, the sequester that kicks in in just a few weeks. the president expected to address that. the white house said he will build on the scene from his inaugural speech. progressive themes, popular themes and focus on jobs and the

middle class and the economy and growth. so instead of focusing on the effect of those cuts on the pentagon, the president will talk about the effect on the middle class. things like research and headstart and push for congress to quickly make some changes to fix the debt coalition here in washington say it's not just the president and it's not just congress. they've got to work together to get this done. and on the republican side. marco rubio from florida, by the way, delivers the response tonight. republicans are already criticizing what happens after the president's speech. he's hitting the road, three trips in three days to push his agenda. mara. >> tracie potts in washington, we'll be keeping an eye on all of it. tonight brian williams and the entire nbc news team will have complete coverage of president obama's state of the union and republican reply. many around the world are still stunned by pope benedict's announcement he's giving up the papacy. abdication hasn't happened in six centuries. it's creating shock waves even from the sky. the guardian newspaper shows lightning hitting st. peter's

basilica last night after the news broke. claudio la vagne is there. >> reporter: well, a day after the announcement that pope benedict will abdicate, more details are emerging about that announcement. newspaper says that decision made months ago right after his trip to mexico and cuba in march 2012. that's when the pope realized he's too old and too weak to just perform the duties of a pope, including of course, transatlantic trouble. so what's going to happen now? february 28th, 8:00 in the evening rome time, he's going to stop being the pope. and he won't have any more followers of the catholic church. he will then retire to the summer residence outside of rome. when a new pope is elected, hopefully, right before easter, then he will retire to a life of spirituality in a convent

inside the vatican city. >> thanks so much for that report. ts are still digging out from this weekend's big blizzard. in hamden, they've been using heavy equipment as well as snowblowers and shovels to keep clear the streets of three feet of snow. some are upset that the secondary roads were not plowed. the storm is blame are for at least 18 deaths in u.s. and canada. for today's weather, we're joins by meteorologist bill karins. good morning, bill. >> good morning, we got rid of a little bit of that snow yesterday with rain and fog. in the middle of the country, areas that don't get a lot of snow, amarillo, it's starting to snow hard. north texas will get the snow first and then spread to oklahoma today and oklahoma city. looks like you're going to be shoveling tomorrow morning this time. here's where the rain is locate. winter storm warnings go from

amarillo out into oklahoma into the winter storm watch. that's a winter weather advisory or winter storm warning shortly. and we are watching the possibility of six inches from amarillo almost just to the north and west of oklahoma city. oklahoma city officially will probably end up with somewhere between three to five inches. that's a pretty impressive storm. of course, mentioned mardi gras down in new orleans. there were rain showers yesterday. unfortunately not the best today either. more scattered storms. you can see all the wet weather moving in in the deep south, soaked after the tornadoes. for the forecast up in the northeast, some people still don't have power. it's going to be warm, as warm as 44 in boston. chicago, not bad, still chilly at 34. again, we're nice through the rockies and the northern plains. that's a look at your national forecast, now, here's a look at the weather outside your window. partly cloudy skies will be the rule in much of new england today. temperatures getting warmer than they've been lately.

raleigh, north carolina. that's nice, 62 degrees four. houston texas, 58, most of the rain should be east. no one wants a fat tuesday with rainy forecast. >> that's no fun. >> they have fun no matter what. >> that's true. good news, home prices are rising 10% year over year. conditions for the 4,000 passengers stranded aboard that carnival cruise ship are getting diceyer by the day. plus, best in show, the participate perred pure breds prancing past the prognosticators as west mincer gets ready to crown bun. that's back in two.

welcome back. here's some other stories making news this morning. nearly 600 homes were destroyed or damaged after this massive tornado ripped across mississippi. miraculously no one was killed in the storm but dozens were injured. talk about sea sickness, passengers in a stranded cruise ship in the gulf of mexico

report limited bathrooms and food. a federal judge has overturned arizona's attempt to block funding for planned parenthood. the judge says the law robs individuals on medicare for the ability to choose health care services. the former navy s.e.a.l. shot and killed at a gun range is laid to rest. more than 7,000 people attended the service for chris kyle near dallas. his wife told mourners he was a devoted husband and friend who will never be forgotten. the u.s. has another honor recipient, president obama presented the medal to clint bravesier, his son got in on the action with his proud dad there. and conflicts reports show he shot osama bin laden. he tells esquire magazine he was denied health coverage after the service.

and the navy told him reportedly you're out of coverage, go blank yourself. they tell the stars and stripes that veterans are eligible for free health care through the v.a. an american hound, a bichon and the best of the sporting groups will be picked tonight. we'll see what the mood is like on the street today ahead of the president's state of the union address. apple ceo fred cook will have are a front row seat. cook has a big speech of his own at a tech conference where he'll likely be bombarded with questions. british bark barclays is slashing 3700 jobs from its corporate arms. on the earnings deck keep an eye on michael kors.

whiskey connoisseurs be wear. it's being watered down from 45% to 42% alcohol. and limited time deals to include free shipping and registration is required. if you haven't checked your credit report lately it could be costing you. a government report finds one in five people have credit errors on a credit report. good news for homeowners. and demand appears to be pretty good for pepsi's new morning drink quick smart. straight ahead, a tv station gets hacked by a zombie apocalypse. you've got to see this to believe it. plus what's going on behind super skier lindsey vonn and golfer tiger woods. we'll have the details coming up next.

welcome back. now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. we start in san diego. where an iconic 1945 photo of a sailor kissing a nurse at the end of the world war ii is being revived. the 25-foot 15,000 pound statue of the kiss is being built and transported to san diego where

it will be installed along the water front in the next few days. and the atlas v rocket has a smooth trip to outer space where it will monitor shrinking glaciers. >> down to louisiana where one pepsi truck driver sustained only moderate injuries after he lost control of his 18 wheeler and jumped the guard rail. the trapped driver dangled over an overpass. and finally to montana where hackers tapped into one tv station and caused quite a stir over a zombie apocalypse show, take a listen. >> several in the area have reported that the bodies of the dead are arising from their graves and attacking. >> so scary. the station quickly pulled the alert and apologized to viewers for that prank. turning to sports, number 14 kansas hosted rival number 10 kansas state.

ben mcnamara scored 30 points and kansas overwhelmed kansas state 83-52. and georgetown got 21 points from otto porter jr. over marquette. they beat them 63-49. turning to the nfl quarterback michael vick signed a one-year deal worth about $10 million to stay with the philadelphia eagles. and in baseball pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring train. outfielder dustin pedroia was already outfielding ground balls. skier lindsey vonn posted a picture on facebook after surgery on her knee when she was jurisdiction last week in austria. vonn was reportedly phone on tiger's private jet. and the warriors will debut their new yellow sleeve jerseys making them the first team in the nba to play in something other than a tank top.

and here's a snapshot you won't often see, annie olson shot the entire length of the court. it bounced once and went in the basket. it was ruled a loose ball. only counted for two. "early today" sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray. never all. just ahead, don johnson's $19 million payday. plus, a grammy gate crasher is sent packing by j. lo. that's coming up next.

welcome back to "early today." yesterday was mentioned a potential for the next big storm on the eastern seaboard. still looks like there's going to be a big storm. but the trend, a good trend has been been put to be more offshore. more into the canadian maritime. right now, we still have the watches. still going to be a close call for portions of new england but things are looking better. no problem for northern new england, the great lakes but we do have that store on i-40. >> bill, i can't take any more talk of storms. you're going to have to lay off that for a while. turning to entertainment, nbc has officially been branded. g-4 cable channel. it's geared to the upwardly mobile highly engaged man like bill. actor don johnson of "miami vice" fame is $19 million

richer. he settled a pay dispute with the show's producers claims he was entitled to 50% of the show's profits even though it went off the air years ago. popular car show top gear has shown a chopper with a disastrous ending. the chopper loses control and smashes right into the ground with some crew members barely getting out of the way. thankfully, no one was seriously injured. adele's big grammy winner was notable for another reason. a man crashed the stage, j. lo handled as well as she could. the man who was a tv personality was arrested backstage for trespassing. grammy also scored huge rates with 28.4 million viewers tuning in. i'm surprised with all the security, all the celebrities that anyone could not only crash the event but on the stage with

stars of that character. adele, jennifer lopez -- >> it was a great concert. they never even come close to that. the next one from kusa in denver, colorado one 17-year-old's wish for life may have been granted by a special man. after being diagnosed with stage four hodgkin's lymphoma, he wanted to meet the pope. the pope put his hand over peter and he's now pushing to become an ordained himself. >> i'm mara schiavocampo, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> good morning. we're off to a quiet start. we're in the 40's. we had a cold front go through last night. we will make it into the low 50's this afternoon. it will be on the breezy side. we have some snow in the seven- day forecast. >> 4:56. a death investigation in a house in college park.

>> big news out of north korea. what the country and the news outlets are reporting. >> speculation is mounting about who will replace the pope. >> this plan doesn't solve all the problems. >> a plan to avoid the baltimore bankruptcy. >> we are taking a look at the area roads.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> right now, a death investigation in college park, not far from the university of maryland campus. maryland campus.